ARCTIC
VOL. 48, NO. 4 (DECEMBER 1995) P. 391–392
The M.V. Calanus
One night in Hudson Strait the Calanus lay in the midst of an
ice field. It was dark, the ice floes swirled and ground
together, and open water was nowhere to be seen. Some hours
after the vessel was caught and rendered largely powerless by
the ice, an immense floe with a high overhang struck; it
pressed against the port quarter, hooked itself over the gun-
wale, and forced the boat downward. At the same time,
another floe moved against the starboard bow near the water
line and lifted that side of the vessel. As the starboard bow
rose and the Calanus heeled farther and farther to port, there
appeared to be no way to prevent her loss. But just at that
moment a patch of open water appeared directly astern.
Reverse power slipped the vessel back off the starboard ice
and out from under the port ice to the open water, where she
again floated and regained her stability. She traversed the rest
of the ice field by daylight the next morning.
Most vessels would not have survived that 1953 night in
Hudson Strait. The Calanus, however, is no ordinary vessel;
had it been, the story above might have had a different ending.
The tough, sturdy hull of the Calanus is constructed of wood,
yellow birch below the water and oak above, supported by
stout and closely spaced white oak ribs. Her hull, developed
from a Scandinavian model, is tub-shaped: her beam of 4.5 m
is nearly one-third of her length. With a rounded bottom and
a shallow keel, she is designed to be lifted by heavy lateral ice
pressure.
Inevitably, the history of data-collecting at sea has been
closely linked to a series of such sturdy ships. Among those
active in the Canadian Arctic, the Neptune, first Canadian
vessel to observe oceanographic conditions in our Arctic, was
sailed to Hudson Strait in 1884. She was soon followed by the
Alert and the Diana. In 1914 the Burleigh investigated
fisheries in Hudson Bay, and between 1929 and 1931, the
Acadia made oceanographic observations in Hudson Bay and
Hudson Strait. In 1930 the Hudson Bay Fisheries Expedition
was put in the field using the chartered steam trawler Loubyrne.
In Canada, interest in the Arctic began to increase after
World War II. It became clear that in spite of the fine pre-war
efforts expended from the vessels mentioned above, we knew
sadly little about our arctic waters and their plant and animal
content. In recognition of this, the Eastern Arctic Investiga-
tions (later to become the Arctic Unit, then the Arctic Biologi-
cal Station), a laboratory of the Fisheries Research Board of
Canada, was set up in 1947. The initial laboratory, under the
direction of Professor Max Dunbar, was located at McGill
University in Montreal.
It was obvious from the beginning that there was need of
a full-time vessel equipped to carry heavy trawling gear and
plankton nets, to provide laboratory space, and to accommo-
date a small crew on cruises lasting up to several weeks. The
building of such a vessel was quickly authorized. A basic plan
devised by Max Dunbar was developed into a ketch-rigged
schooner equipped with a 77 hp diesel engine. She was named
Calanus after a tiny copepod crustacean found in immense
numbers in polar and near-polar seas the world around, which
is an important source of food for many marine fish.
The design of the Calanus was of necessity a compromise
because of the need on the one hand to sail in shallow, near-
shore waters and to haul the vessel out of the water for the
winter, and on the other to have as seaworthy and versatile a
craft as possible. To meet these requirements, she was built
smaller than she might otherwise have been, approximately
15 m overall.
The M.V. Calanus in Frobisher Bay in 1965.
Beaching facilities were few in the Canadian Arctic 50
years ago, and hauling some 50 tonnes of vessel and cradle up
a rough beach using wooden rollers on a moveable track of
heavy timbers required a major effort each season.
In the earlier years the wooden cradle, with rollers and
timber track lashed to its lower surface, was pulled down the
beach far enough to float at high tide, towed away from the
shore to a predetermined point, then allowed to settle with the
falling tide. At low water, the cradle was loaded with rocks to
prevent flotation as the tide rose again. At the height of the
tide, the Calanus was moved to lie directly over the cradle,
and as the tide fell, the vessel was manoeuvred until it settled
properly on the cradle. The rocks were then hurriedly re-
moved from the cradle, and the vessel and cradle started on
their halting journey back up the beach. It was of the greatest
importance to move far enough during the first low tide
period to prevent refloating on the next tide.
Of course the whole operation could be accomplished only
if the wind remained reasonably calm, a phenomenon not
readily to be relied upon in the Canadian Subarctic in the
autumn. There was also need of a substantial tide range in
order to float the vessel onto the cradle. Fortunately this was
found in many parts of the eastern Subarctic. Beaching under
the circumstances took many days and a considerable outlay
of hard work. Happily, during the later years of beaching at
Iqaluit, vastly improved conditions prevailed, highlighted by
a cradle with wheels and unlimited bulldozer power.
392 • ARCTIC PROFILE
The Calanus in summer sea ice, Belcher Islands, 1959.
The Calanus was first used in 1949, for oceanographic
work in Ungava Bay. During three summer seasons, her crew
surveyed the currents, physical properties of the water, and
animal populations of Ungava Bay, with the now interesting
preliminary conclusions that marine fin fish, with the possi-
ble exception of the Atlantic cod, were likely to be of little
importance in the bay, and that shrimp appeared to warrant
more extensive examination.
The study moved northward into Frobisher Bay and on to
Hudson Bay in 1952, and continued in northern Hudson Bay,
where the walrus was a major interest, until 1954. Late that
season the first long voyage south, to Montreal, was carried
out for a refit. The Calanus was sailed back to the Arctic in
1955, as far as Igloolik in northern Foxe Basin, where she
wintered in the ice of Turton Bay, not far from where Parry’s
vessels Fury and Hecla passed the winter of 1822 – 23.
During the period at Igloolik, the Calanus served as the
base of operations for the first year-round studies of water
properties and the plankton cycle and of the walrus to be
carried out in the Canadian Arctic. For this undertaking, the
vessel was placed in a small, moderately sheltered bay and
held in position while the sea froze around her. For the next
nine months, the Calanus served as home and laboratory for
her winter crew of two. Over the course of the winter, the
approximately two metres of ice that developed around the
vessel caused no significant problems, and in August an
orderly breakup of the winter ice left her in open water and
ready for another summer season. During the winter, collect-
ing was done not directly from the Calanus, but at various
distant sites. The researchers travelled to and fro by dogsled
and worked through holes made in the ice. This was the only
time the vessel was occupied during the winter; later, winter
work was carried out from land-based accommodation.
After being beached for her second winter in Foxe Basin,
the Calanus was sailed straight south to James Bay, to be used
for the next two years in studies of James Bay and southeast-
ern Hudson Bay. She then moved to northwestern Hudson
Bay and, in 1962, sailed once again to Montreal for her second
refit. This stay in the south lasted nearly three years because
of problems with budget and bureaucracy.
The Calanus being hauled to the sea.
After this delayed renewal, the Calanus was sailed again
to the north, this time to Iqaluit, where a base was established
and used for the remainder of the vessel’s active life. During
the 1970s, government funding became gradually more dif-
ficult to obtain, and the Calanus was left unused for longer
and longer periods. It is worth noting, not without irony, that
the last active season of the Calanus was funded not by
government, but by an oil company interested in environmen-
tal conditions off the east coast of Baffin Island.
In the 1980s, the municipality of Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher
Bay) purchased the Calanus, reportedly to use the vessel in
conjunction with a presentation of the history of Frobisher
Bay. This plan was not carried out, and the vessel next moved
into the hands of a private citizen of Iqaluit. Through all this
the vessel has lain inactive on the beach at Iqaluit since the
summer of 1979. Weathered paint and rust show the effects
of time; and breakage, the consequences of vandalism.
The Calanus is a surviving descendant of the few small
craft which pioneered the study of oceanography in northern
Canada during the first few decades of this century. She was
the first vessel designed and built specifically for arctic
oceanography; the first used in perennial programs, those of
an oceanographic laboratory devoted to arctic research; and
the first to include a wide range of physical, chemical and
biological observations in oceanographic studies in the Cana-
dian Arctic.
The present condition of this important little vessel reveals
a sad and unworthy conclusion to a unique career of three
decades. She represents a phase of Canadian activity now
largely past: the period of transition from mainly geographic
to scientific exploration in our Arctic. Little time remains to
take action if we are to prevent the irretrievable loss of this
historic ship.
E.H. Grainger
48 Elmwood Avenue
Senneville, Quebec, Canada
H9X 1T7